Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 June 2023
226. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the degree to which investment in indigenous job creation and job creation through foreign direct investment is likely to avail of innovation, technology and EU support over the next three years; the number of jobs likely to benefit from such supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31958/23]
View answerMy Department working with IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs), continues to focus on promoting, encouraging and supporting investment from the FDI and indigenous sectors to support job creation.
Government support assists in creating and maintaining high-value jobs and develop business in Ireland. Currently, there are a variety of supports and grants available to all enterprises under a variety of headings, including innovation and technology as identified by the Deputy, with a particular emphasis on sustainability and digitalisation. Such grants are administered by IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs under my Department's remit.
The White Paper on Enterprise, published in December last year, outlines the Government’s approach to enterprise policy for the period to 2030. Key targets within the White Paper include maintaining full employment and growing the number of export firms as well as increasing expenditure levels of foreign-owned firms here in Ireland. Advancing Ireland’s FDI and trade value proposition and strengthening the Irish-owned exporting sector are two of the seven priority objectives for enterprise policy identified in the White Paper.
IDA’s strategy “Driving Recovery & Sustainable Growth” 2021-2024 is aligned to the White Paper and is focused on identifying growth opportunities and partnering with existing clients on transformative investments in RD&I, talent development, sustainability and to increase the productivity of Irish operations and their workforce.
The strong annual results for 2022 reported by IDA Ireland illustrates the country’s continued attractiveness to FDI, with 242 investments won over the course of the year. The results also reaffirmed the scale of the impact of the multinational companies (MNCs) operating in Ireland today. In 2022 IDA reached a record number employed in their client companies totalling 301,475.
Enterprise Ireland works to accelerate the development of world-class Irish companies to achieve leading positions in global markets. The agency will continue to help foster an environment that nurtures entrepreneurship, supports the sustainable growth of Irish-owned firms while increasing and diversifying our exports feeding directly in to job creation.
Enterprise Ireland companies now employ 218,178 people with 68% of these jobs outside Dublin. Enterprise Ireland client companies enjoyed strong employment growth in 2022 and the second highest increase in net jobs created by their client companies in a single year at 10,841. There was strong regional growth with 64% of new jobs created outside of Dublin.
The LEOs continue to help smaller prospective exporters to develop the required capacities to enter new markets and to increase job creation. In 2022, the LEOs supported companies who created 7,870 new jobs resulting in a net employment gain of 3,447 for the year. The LEOs client-companies now provide 37,863 jobs.
My Department continually engages with Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and the LEOs to ensure that the appropriate suites of support are in place to support our indigenous enterprises and our FDI companies in this time of transformation to enable them to continue to grow our employment.
